Minimalist studio setup: Patch bay options

[tothemax]

My home studio is coming together and I'm trying to keep it within budget. Weather is pretty crummy here so I have some time over the long weekend.

Now that I've worked out a headphone mix by creating a second bus in my DAW it brings up the question of being able to access it with headphones. I can point any computer channels to the headphone out on my interface, but then I'm losing the default master out access. The Tascam US-16x08 interface has 16 in (1-8 XLR, 9-16 1/4" TRS line ) and 8 TRS line outs (channels 1 - 8). It would be nice to have access to both the headphone and master mixes. I'm thinking a dual 1/4" male to stereo 1/4" female adds a second headphone connection.

I was looking at the Behringer Ultrapatch Pro 3000, which is more than I need at the moment with a single interface but would allow for expansion down the road. At $69 it seems like a pretty good entry level value.

Behringer Ultrapatch Pro PX3000 48-point 1/4" TRS Balanced Patchbay
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I also have a PA and board set up in the studio for small practice sessions, I think the patch bay would add capability here. I did see this video which was something I considered if were running multiple mic's - using my snake to minimize the cluster coming from the console.

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Just wondering what the group thinks about the Behringer Patch bay unit.

 

[DirkP]

The sub 100,- Patch Bays are useful and very similar. I have the Neutrik that was even cheaper IIRC.
I don't know if I understand correctly, what you're trying to do, but you can't send a headphone level signal through a patchbay without seriously degrading it. Patchbays are for line-level signals, not for mics and not for amplified signals. You would need a headphone-amp for your second pair of headphones.

 

[tothemax]

Thanks, very new at this. Line level signals makes sense. Will need to do a bit more reading on the subject. As you can see from the Tascam Software diagram line outs 1 & 2 are configured as the primary headphone outs. I was looking for a way to support an additional Aux Send headphone mix without having to access the back of the interface where the line outs are (also the Line in access, the XLR jacks are on the front).

Something to think about.

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[silky smoove]

I use a Hosa MHB-350 to send headphone outputs from pairs of line outputs on my MOTU 16A (ie the Hosa has 8 patch points which equates to 4 headphone outs) which al go to individual headphone amps at the performer stations. Works great.

For mic inputs I use an ART P16 which is little more than a 16 point XLR i/o, not unlike a stage snake but in rack form. I do this to allow me to quickly patch into any of my preamp channels from the front panel without having to ever go behind my rack.